Oil ‘could Hit $250 A Barrel’

[Boater]

MOTORISTS were urged not to panic last night as oil prices were predicted to DOUBLE to $250 a barrel.

That would send unleaded soaring to 230p a litre, push energy prices through the roof and force scores of airlines out of business.

Russian energy giant Gazprom made the $250-a-barrel prediction at a summit in France.

Chief executive Alexei Miller said: "The price is going to reach a level never before seen. We think it will reach $250 a barrel in the foreseeable future."

In Scotland yesterday, an 80-lorry convoy was joined by taxis to protest against fuel prices in a demonstration from Glasgow to Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, there are fears some garages could run out of fuel as petrol tanker drivers prepare for a four-day strike from Friday.

Emergency stockpiles have been set aside for police, ambulances and fire services.

And steps were also taken to ensure supplies around the UK.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister condemned the stoppage which will hit Shell filling stations — one in ten of Britain’s forecourts.

Motorists were urged not to cause shortages by panic-buying petrol and diesel.

But the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform admitted it was "inevitable" some filling stations would run out.

The 500 drivers employed by Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, which supply Shell petrol stations, are demanding a 13 per cent pay rise.

Hoyer insisted its 6.8 per cent offer was a good deal and would give the average driver £39,000 a year.

Union Unite said Shell made £13billion profit a month and could settle the dispute for around £1million a year.

Both sides will today hold talks with the conciliation service Acas.

<LI>

FUEL sales have dropped by as much as 20 per cent in the last 12 months, the International Energy Agency claimed last night.

[email protected]

[PeaceBlondie]

The spokesperson for Gazprom has his own agenda to make that prediction, and is scare-mongering. However, maybe $200 is forseeable in the next year. But are we talking about the average price for barrels actually sold to refineries, or futures contracts imagined by speculators?

Imagine that fuel in Thailand doubles again,, to over 80 baht per liter, in the next year. That would be catastrophic.

[Naam]

Oil ‘could Hit $250 A Barrel’

so what?

[Boater]

Oil 'could Hit $250 A Barrel'

so what?

so what? , well the price of fuel will double.. and with that everything else!!!!... just look at the promblems now with the price of oil

[PhilHarries]

Singha beer could hit 250 Baht a bottle!

Now that's scary.

That would send unleaded soaring to 230p a litre, push energy prices through the roof and force scores of airlines out of business.

But only those airlines running their planes on unleaded gasoline.

[Smithson]

How high does the price get before it's considered to be Peak Oil?

[Boater]

How high does the price get before it's considered to be Peak Oil?

Its supposed to be peaked now!, so anyones guess?... but there has to be a point where it cannot go any higher!, otherwise we are doomed

[INTJ]

Quite suprising that not many people know what peak oil is.

Well worth a google IMO.

Cheers

[Boater]

Quite suprising that not many people know what peak oil is.

Well worth a google IMO.

Cheers

haha, sorry, i read the post incorrectly, tired eyes..... i thought they where referring to when the oil price has peaked to its highest

[Naam]

Oil 'could Hit $250 A Barrel'

so what?

so what? , well the price of fuel will double.. and with that everything else!!!!... just look at the promblems now with the price of oil

so what? what problems?

[A_Traveller]

So what --- <sigh> Well, the shipping cost of the standard 40-foot container has almost tripled since 2000. Now if oil prices head to just {given the tag line for this thread} 200 USD a barrel, it is anticipated that these costs will double again. It takes about 4 weeks to ship cargo from China to the west coast of the United States, in 2000, that cost was, in round terms 3,000 USD, today it costs 8,000+ USD a container on that route. So if oil rises to 200 USD the price is anticipated to almost double again to near 15,000 USD.

To borrow a comment from Jeff Rubin, "In a world of triple-digit oil prices distance costs money. And while trade liberalisation and technology may have flattened the world, rising transport costs will once again make it rounder.”.

So what indeed.....

Regards

Edited June 11, 2008 by A_Traveller

[gymshark]

Oil 'could Hit $250 A Barrel'

so what?

so what? , well the price of fuel will double.. and with that everything else!!!!... just look at the promblems now with the price of oil

so what? what problems?

Are you really that clueless? I think not, you are just after a bite.

[Naam]

Oil 'could Hit $250 A Barrel'

so what?

so what? , well the price of fuel will double.. and with that everything else!!!!... just look at the promblems now with the price of oil

so what? what problems?

Are you really that clueless? I think not, you are just after a bite.

i'm neither clueless nor after a bite. in fact i wouldn't mind if crude really hits $250/barrel. but don't ask me what my reasons are (and NO, i don't own oil futures or options!)

[britmaveric]

If it gets that high expect full scale WAR.

[gymshark]

If it gets that high expect full scale WAR.

War is a main part of the reason for the high prices

[Naam]

So what --- <sigh> Well, the shipping cost of the standard 40-foot container has almost tripled since 2000. Now if oil prices head to just {given the tag line for this thread} 200 USD a barrel, it is anticipated that these costs will double again. It takes about 4 weeks to ship cargo from China to the west coast of the United States, in 2000, that cost was, in round terms 3,000 USD, today it costs 8,000+ USD a container on that route. So if oil rises to 200 USD the price is anticipated to almost double again to near 15,000 USD.

i have shipped a 40' High Cube container in july 2005 from the U.S. east coast to Thailand (paid for shipping ex insurance and handling at destination $ 3,650) and i have no plans to ship all my belongings out of Thailand. my view is that present oil prices and oil derivatives are too low to make people sit up.

[Naam]

If it gets that high expect full scale WAR.

of course war will make oil much cheaper

[Gary A]

I think oil is about at its peak right now. Demand is dropping quickly and soon there will be downward adjustments in the amount being pumped in an attempt to keep the price up.

[britmaveric]

Yes Saudi(s) having a meeting when they said it wouldnt happen til end Sept. is proof.

[Naam]

I think oil is about at its peak right now. Demand is dropping quickly and soon there will be downward adjustments in the amount being pumped in an attempt to keep the price up.

according to the latest news the demand is 86mm barrels/day whereas only 84mm barrels/day are pumped and nowhere are signs that the demand is dropping.

[gymshark]

Demand isn't dropping, we are being pushed to explore and construct more and more, what with the snags in Nigeria / Iraq etc. demand is at an all time high, boom time for us in the industry (about bloody time too).

[rethaired]

Most of this (as much as 60%) is about SPECULATION.

Peak Oil means that there is about 20 to 30 years of cheap oil left (and possibly more because consumption is going to go down with the more economical cars [hybrid/diesel]/more motorcycle use, and people changing their habits). Is there anyone here who believes that in 20 to 30 years we will NOT have electric cars?

Most of this spike on oil and commodities in due to SPECULATION.

Google Enron, speculation+oil.

People keep saying this because of peak oil, us driving SUV's, rising demand from India and china. Well take a look at the chart on CBC. The US is still the largest consumer of oil by far. These reasons where there 3-4 years ago too. But why the huge prices now?

-The Enron Loophole - 'over the counter electronic exchanges' became exempt from regulatory oversight by the CFTC with the "Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000" (keep in mind that the CFTC is suppose to make sure there isn't speculation at play and prices reflect supply and demand, but can't do that job if they don't have oversight)

- In January 2006, CFTC permitted the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which basically meant that US commodities could be trading on the London exchange and not be subject to CFTC oversight. (Congress may have just recently 'plugged' this loophole)

- Large Wall street Banks are desperate for profits following the collapse in their earnings since August 2007 and the US real estate crisis, oil is one of the best ways for them to get huge speculative gains. They are pouring billions in commodities. Apparently there are no 'limits' when it comes to wall street banks buying commodities. It also take little leverage to 'buy' these futures.

Is it a coincidence that the huge price in oil seems to coincide with all these deregulations and following the housing crisis? I think not.

It all goes back to the same 'people'; wall street & international banksters.

And of course they want you to think its all your fault. That it is hurricane this and earthquake that. That it is Peak Oil! Why not? Banks and investors are making a killing!

Thats not to say we shouldn't be conserving anyway, but this speculation effects food commodities and poor countries as well. Peoples lives are at risk.

Edited June 12, 2008 by rethaired

[LivinLOS]

How high does the price get before it's considered to be Peak Oil?

Peak oil does not mean price.. Means Peak production after which oil gets poorer quality, harder to extract..

There plenty of hydrocarbons out there, but they are just gettng mush harder to get out, and refined into useable forms.

[Naam]

Is there anyone here who believes that in 20 to 30 years we will NOT have electric cars?

of course the future belongs to cars driven by electricity. ample electricity supply is available in everybody's home from a number of outlets. no need for oil and its derivatives!

[Naam]

for the record: a lot of people have no idea that gasoline and diesel to power vehicles derived from crude oil is only a very small percentage of its usage. the lion share of crude is used for:

Heating oil

Jet fuel

Bunker fuel (ships)

Fertilizers

Pesticides

Plastics

Synthetic rubber

Synthetic fibers

Dyes

Paint

Detergent

Medicinal drugs

Make-up

Candles

[PhilHarries]

Is there anyone here who believes that in 20 to 30 years we will NOT have electric cars?

of course the future belongs to cars driven by electricity. ample electricity supply is available in everybody's home from a number of outlets. no need for oil and its derivatives!

I don't think we will need electricity, everything in the future will be powered by alternative energy. Besides which we can always build a few nice shint nuclear power stations.

[Boater]

A thai built nuclear power Station, now that would be interesting to see

[Boater]

Published: Today

FEARS of a world oil shortage grew yesterday as it was revealed production fell in 2007 for the first time in five years.

The world’s proven oil reserves also fell — while consumption rocketed.

BP, publishing its annual Statistical Review of World Energy, said 81.5MILLION barrels were produced daily last year, down 126,000 on 2006.

At the end of 2007, the world had proven reserves of 1,237.9BILLION barrels, down 1.6billion barrels on 2006.

Meanwhile, the world consumed 85.22MILLION barrels of oil daily in 2007, up 990,000 on 2006.

On that basis — assuming no more reserves are found in future — the world would RUN OUT of oil 40 years from now.

The drop in production was largely due to lower output by many of the 13 Opec countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Nigeria.

BP ... reports suggest oil consumption is on the rise

Production from Norway was also sharply lower.

Higher output from less traditional suppliers like Russia, Canada and Angola was not enough to make up for this.

The biggest increases in consumption were in booming emerging markets like China, India and Brazil.

BP chief executive Tony Hayward warned the situation could get worse — but said the problem was mainly political.

He said: “While resources are not a constraint globally, the resources within reach of private investment by companies like BP are limited.

“Political factors, barriers to entry, and high taxes all play a role here.

“The problems are above ground, not below it — political, not geological.”

Meanwhile BP chairman Peter Sutherland shot down Tuesday’s claim from the head of Russia’s GAZPROM that oil prices will hit $250 a barrel next year.

Mr Sutherland said: “Personally, I don’t believe in some of the more apocalyptic predictions. I don’t believe we’re in for a spike to $250 as suggested.”

[Smithson]

Most of this (as much as 60%) is about SPECULATION.

Peak Oil means that there is about 20 to 30 years of cheap oil left (and possibly more because consumption is going to go down with the more economical cars [hybrid/diesel]/more motorcycle use, and people changing their habits). Is there anyone here who believes that in 20 to 30 years we will NOT have electric cars?

Peak Oil doesn't mean cheap oil for 20 - 30 years, cheap oil is already long gone, haven't you noticed? There in no sign that consumption will decrease, it's the opposite. Increasing oil demand means if the US switched to hybrids today, it would only reduce consumption for a few years.

Peak Oil means a peak in supply, after which supply it drops. There are those who believe we've already reached it, others say it will happen around 2010, while some say it'll go for another 20 yrs. Demand is more likely to increase than decrease, so prices will skyrocket. The result could be severe economic depression, war, famine. Oil is used for almost everything, if there is a major drop in supply the world cannot support anywhere near 6 billion ppl.

This all may sound crazy, but those who accurately predicted peak oil in Texas were also laughed at. The bottom line is the faster we move towards alternatives the better off we'll be.

If we wait too long, there may not be enough oil for us to happily drive around in our electric cars!

[Naam]

A thai built nuclear power Station, now that would be interesting to see

but not to live nearby